Baltimore Ravens' Biggest Preseason Disappointments so Far
Now that the Baltimore Ravens have two preseason games in the books, the picture of what this team is all about is starting to come into focus. Looking at things in the big picture, the Ravens are a very talented team and loaded at some positions.
Nevertheless, there are some areas/players, when you put them under the microscope, that have been disappointing. There’s no need to panic at this point, as there are still two more weeks of preseason, and the team gets to return back home to finish prep for the regular season.
So with that, here are the five most disappointing players/situations for the Ravens so far this preseason.
Joe Flacco
1 of 5
Quarterback Joe Flacco’s performance against the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday night was dreadful. Some nights it’s just not your night, and that was the case for Flacco. In the whole of the preseason, Flacco hasn’t been terrible, but back-to-back interceptions on his only two drives against the Eagles were tough to swallow.
On Flacco’s first interception, it was a tipped ball and an incredible individual effort by Philadelphia cornerback Walter Thurmond. However, as you can see below in this tweet from Bleeding Green Nation, the second one was all on Flacco:
"Watch Byron Maxwell pick off Joe Flacco for his first Eagles interception (via @SBNationGIF) http://t.co/R9WIaOTo65 pic.twitter.com/02YrD8vZJh
— BleedingGreenNation (@BleedingGreen) August 22, 2015"
When you are the franchise quarterback of a team with Super Bowl aspirations, these types of performances leave a sour taste in the collective mouth of the fans. Let’s hope that in the third preseason game, when starters typically play a full half, that Flacco can get things back on track.
Breshad Perriman
2 of 5
Sometimes, a player can be a disappointment and not really do anything to deserve it. That’s the case with rookie wide receiver Breshad Perriman. After having a solid run in OTAs, Perriman sprained his knee at the first practice of training camp and hasn’t been able to get back to the field since.
"Breshad Perriman (knee) isn't practicing, injury is regarded as minor by Ravens
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) July 31, 2015"
As much as everyone wants to get excited about wide receivers Kamar Aiken and Darren Waller during the preseason, these guys don’t have the talent to be a consistent threat opposite veteran wide receiver Steve Smith.
Obviously, when the Ravens drafted Perriman in the first round of the 2015 draft, this was not what they anticipated. It’s likely Perriman will be back on the field by the time the regular season starts. However, he is well behind his teammates, and his role with this offense will be diminished.
Defensive Line
3 of 5
This time around, the disappointment gets spread across the entire Baltimore defensive line. And they make this list almost exclusively because of their performance against the Eagles. It was clear that this group was ill-prepared for both the style and tempo that Philadelphia brought to the table.
Ravens writer Brian Bower pointed out on Twitter that part of the problem was due to the fact that there was very little game-specific scheming in this game:
"Not a good showing by usually stout Ravens defensive line. As Dean Pees said not much scheme tonight but being pushed back regularly.
— Brian Bower (@sportguyRSR) August 22, 2015"
However, as Bower also pointed out, the Ravens defensive line was getting pushed around. We all knew there would be a learning curve for this group as they adjusted to life without long-time defensive tackle Haloti Ngata. But that in no way absolves this group for how they let the Eagles run roughshod on them for 238 yards rushing.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Injuries
4 of 5
Injuries are an inevitability of the NFL preseason. If you want to crown a champion of the preseason, look for the team that loses the fewest starters. Because of the brutal losses, the league has spent years contemplating a system that shortened the preseason while maintaining the cash cow that is NFL TV money. Here’s a piece from 2013, where Sports Illustrated writer Chris Burke discusses the issue.
I’m sure that with the litany of injuries Baltimore had endured to this point, they would be on board with any mechanism that helped minimize that. ESPN writer Jamison Hensley reported on the grim state of the Ravens injuries prior to the game against the Eagles.
This was the bad news. The badder (is that a word?) news is that in the game, Baltimore had even more injuries during the loss. Garrett Downing of Baltimoreravens.com wrote that not only did Baltimore lose offensive tackles James Hurst and De’Ondre Wesley to injury, but backup running back Lorenzo Taliaferro was also injured during the game.
It’s not clear just how much, if any, of the regular season any of these players will miss. That doesn’t change how disheartening it is to see player after player hobbled in games that don’t count for anything.
Marlon Brown
5 of 5
This list concludes with wide receiver Marlon Brown. Even though this pertains to disappointment during this preseason, Brown’s slide has been a year in the making. After a rookie season in which he hauled in 49 passes, Brown only caught 29 in 2014 and saw much fewer targets.
However, with the loss of wide receiver Torrey Smith, the door was wide open for Brown to slide into a starting spot and have a huge season. Unfortunately, this offseason has been nightmarish for the third-year pro, and honestly at this point, it isn’t a stretch to see him on the roster bubble.
Ravens blogger Phil Gentile tweeted out something very similar about Brown:
"I agree there is no guarantee Marlon Brown makes the @Ravens roster. Waller and Campanaro have played well while Brown hasn't done anything.
— Phil Gentile (@iHateJJRedick) August 21, 2015"
It’s crazy to think that in a span of just a couple of months, a guy could go from being in the mix to start, to possibly being cut. But that’s how the NFL works. Other players have made the most of their opportunities, while Brown has not.
Unless specified, all stats courtesy of NFL.com.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
.png?w=480)
